11/08/2017 - UK Trade Balance At Nine-Month High

GBP

Britain's economy continued to struggle in June with declines in car manufacturing, construction and exports giving an uninspiring end to the weakest first half of any year since 2012. Now over a year after Britain voted for Brexit, there is still little sign that exporters have gained much by way of competitiveness from the fall in the value of the pound after the referendum. The UK’s goods trade deficit jumped to a nine-month high of 12.7 billion pounds in June from 11.3 billion pounds in May.

The Bank of England has indicated that it is still counting on a recovery in exports to help lift growth in the economy. The Office for National Statistics said nothing in Thursday's data suggested a change in its earlier estimate that the economy grew 0.3 percent in the three months to June after expanding just 0.2 percent in the first quarter of this year.

USD

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a tightening labour market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 for the week ended Aug. 5. With the labour market near full employment, there is probably limited room for claims to continue declining. Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy jobs market for 127 consecutive weeks. This is the longest such stretch since 1970.

Key Announcements

13:30 - USD - US Consumer Price index(July) expected to be higher at 1.8% from 1.6%